Electrochemical co-reduction of Mg(II), Al(III) and Nd(III) in the LiCl-NaCl-MgCl₂-AlF₃ melts

To prepare Mg–Al-Nd alloys electrochemically, the electrochemical co-reduction mechanism of Mg(II), Al(III), and Nd(III) was probed in the LiCl-NaCl-MgCl₂-AlF₃ melts on a molybdenum electrode by means of various electrochemical measurement techniques, i.e., cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, and open circuit chronopotentiometry. It was found that Nd could deposit on pre-deposited Al metal and form Nd-Al intermetallics in the LiCl-NaCl-NdCl₃-MgCl₂-AlF₃ system, and the electrochemical signal related to the formation of ternary intermetallics was not detected. The co-reduction of Mg(II), Al(III), and Nd(III) was carried out on molybdenum electrode by galvanostatic electrolysis to prepare Mg–Al-Nd alloy, and samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The results indicate that the alloy products were comprised of Al₂Nd intermetallic, Mg and Al phases, and the Mg–Al compound was not observed in the alloys.